5 PPC and SEO strategies that will boost your summer sales
Whether you are an agency or in-house, you will be no stranger to the PPC vs SEO argument.
However, instead of them being pitted against each other, PPC and SEO can work in harmony to create a marketing machine promoting brand awareness at all stages of the funnel.
With summer approaching, it is beneficial to start optimizing your SEO and PPC campaigns relative to what your audience is searching for during the summer months. In this blog, we will explore a variety of PPC and SEO strategies that will boost your summer sales this year.
PPC for summer sales
In marketing, seasonality relates to patterns of higher and/or lower demand for products or services due to external factors. Even weather and specific events can have an impact but because we are approaching summer let us focus here.
Not only is Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising a powerful strategy in general but leveraging it for your summer sales specifically is an area you should focus your efforts on.
Curating targeted ad campaigns that are tailored to seasonal trends and consumer behaviours, can attract highly engaged audiences who are specifically searching for your summer-related products and services.
Before you start, it is good to analyze exactly what seasons work well for your company. For example, if you are a garden furniture brand, sales may peak before and during the summer, so it makes sense by default to finetune your campaigns for this period.
SEO summer campaigns
Similarly to PPC, you want to fine-tune the SEO for your website based on seasonality.
Seasonal SEO refers to the practices of optimizing your website due to the season, capitalizing on what your audience is searching for during this specific time of year.
5 ways to increase your sales this summer
Let us look at some specific ways SEO and PPC can work together to support your summer sales in 2024. You can then apply these to whatever seasons are relevant to your company.
Adjust your content based on current keywords
If you plan your content in advance, spend some time optimizing it for the seasonal period by adjusting your content based on trending keywords. You will want to start with keyword research to identify what your audience is searching for during the summer months, that way you can incorporate both these words within your PPC campaigns and SEO content.
There are many tools out there and knowing which is the best keyword tool can be overwhelming, some of the most common are SEMrush, Ahrefs, Microsoft and Google Key Word Planner, providing you with insights into summer search behaviour.
Next step, after identifying your high-traffic keywords, it is time to incorporate them into your website content, ad copy and product descriptions. Not only does this increase your search engine ranking but means that your content relates to the interests of your consumers driving organic and paid traffic to your landing page.
Keyword research in general, especially seasonally, and keeping up with trends ensures your services stay relevant.
Plan your PPC campaigns 2 months in advance
Many retailers plan months to prepare for the holiday rush, so similarly preparing your ads as early as possible allows your campaigns to align with the shifting seasons. Being prepared ensures you make the most out of your budget, capturing your audience’s attention early.
Make sure your website and product listings are up to date
Preparing SEO strategies for ecommerce websites is essential, so make sure to prepare your product listings for your seasonal sales. With your new keyword research, you can fine-tune your product listings to include these keywords. However, other things you can do to prepare for your summer campaigns are as follows.
Create Seasonal Imagery:
Create new high-quality product images tailored to the summer, especially if you are running new promotions and discounts to capture the summer experience for your audience.
Enrich your product information:
Alongside your keywords, make sure the quality of the information you are providing is legitimate and as detailed as possible.
Summer is a busy seasonal period so the competition for top ad placement is high, so just meeting the bare requirements is not enough.
Include as much detail as you can in the descriptions, the more information you provide at this stage, the more likely your audience will make a crucial purchasing decision earlier on. If your product details only include basic information think about adding specifics that could provide value like size, gender, colour, material and unique features. Ultimately, you do not want to leave the buyer with more questions than answers.
Be sure to optimize your meta titles, meta descriptions, and campaign CTAs (call to actions)
The meta titles and your description are a crucial part of SEO, alongside optimizing your site content too, as these are vital parts to play in how well your site ranks on search engines.
There are a few things to consider if you need support in how to optimize these.
Using the relevant keywords:
Utilising the keyword research you did earlier, make sure they are both relevant to the content of the page and the language used by searchers. Keep these primary keywords at the beginning of the title tag if you can.
Keep Concise
For optimal success, keep your Meta titles short and under 60 characters, ensuring they are fully displayed in search engine results.
Don’t Overthink
Optimizing your meta title and description is especially important, but don’t overthink it. It is the beginning of a holistic approach to SEO alongside the other aspects of page optimization you have done for your seasonal content.
Optimise your campaign CTA’s (Call-To-Action)
In your CTAs for your PPC campaigns, it is always good to give your customers a nudge in the right direction. A CTA serves as a guide, directing your customers towards a desired action and increasing conversion rates. The CTAs could include prompting a purchase, signing up for a newsletter or for the buyer to engage with your seasonal promotions.
It’s important to note, that as seasons change consumer behaviours fluctuate so businesses need to tailor their CTA’s appropriately ensuring that they resonate with their audience. This is paramount to a successful seasonal campaign.
Set KPIs and measure results
Marketing teams are no strangers to setting KPIs and measuring results, using your results to drive data-driven thinking is beneficial to any campaign you run, seasonal or not.
Let us explore some core reasons why you should be setting KPIs and measuring the success of your seasonal content.
Performance evaluation:
KPIs provide a clearer way to measure the impact of your marketing. For example, if your goal is to increase website traffic to a specific seasonal landing page, measuring the actual traffic against your target KPI helps you evaluate the success and then make decisions based on that data.
Data-driven decision-making:
Setting a KPI can guide your decision-making process, having tangible data allows you to analyze what is working and what is not, and adjust your strategy accordingly.
Optimisations:
If your marketing team are regularly monitoring the results against your KPI you can identify and then optimise the areas of improvement. This could include tweaking creative assets, messaging, or CTA’s.
Other summer sales methods
Once you have taken the appropriate steps to boost your summer sales with your PPC and SEO there’s a few other opportunities you could use to help increase your revenue.
Summer coupons + Summer Discounts
Not only do shoppers love discounts, but coupons and discounts in your seasonal marketing can help you attract new customers, retain old ones, increase sales, and boost brand awareness (especially if you were to include a referral offer.)
Bring on summer…
As summer approaches, brands and businesses can optimize their PPC ad campaigns relative to the seasonality. Whether your business is seasonal or operates year-round, implementing these strategies can help you stand out, and if you plan early enough you can catch your audience’s attention before the peak summer rush.
If you’re a marketing agency wanting to advertise on Microsoft, head to our website to find out more about the Diginius Agency Partner Program. Meanwhile, if you are a business managing your paid advertising in-house and you would like our support, discover how the Diginius Insight Platform boosts your ROI.
